Pouches are used for many purposes. These many purposes include but are not limited to providing a container for transporting an item, providing a container for heating an item in the microwave, and providing a container for consuming an item.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,964,255 (Fink et al.) discloses a heat-shrinkable multilayer material which uses a microwave susceptible material to create areas of increased stiffness in the multilayer material when microwave energy is applied. This multilayer material relies on the microwave susceptible material, rather than elevated temperatures alone, to create stiffness. As such, this material is more expensive and complicated to produce.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,622,232 (Pounder et al.) discloses a container suitable for providing insulation from hot beverage contents. The container has an inner shrink film liner. However, the container is bulky; it does not have a relatively flat shape and does not lay-flat, contributing to increased costs in transportation. Furthermore, the container does not fully-enclose the product space and, as such, is not self-sufficient.
WO 2014/204465 (Brosch et al.) discloses a self-standing container having a continuous side wall and a heat-shrinkable connecting wall. This container requires a heat-shrinkable bottom and, as such, does not provide sufficient heat resistance along the continuous side wall.